The United States is entering a more explicit legislative phase in the controversy over whether an encrypted asset is a security or a commodity. Foreign media combing states that the CLARITY Act proposes to formalize “digital goods” into United States federal law and to establish criteria for determining the conversion of some of the tokens from securities to commodities. This would have a direct impact on exchange currency, ETF products, institutional holding arrangements and the division of labour among regulators.

How to define a digital commodity

The so-called “digital goods” lie at the heart of the value of the asset, which comes mainly from the operation of the block chain network itself, as well as from market supply and demand, rather than from the business commitment of a company or team. If a token price depends on a subject to continuously drive business, deliver revenue or manage commitments, it is closer to securities; if its value is determined more by network function, use scenario and circulation supply and demand, it is closer to commodities.

It was mentioned that the regulatory tone also emphasized that digital goods are not usually accompanied by claims for profits, income or assets of the enterprise, nor are they characterized by passive earnings. This is also an important difference from traditional securities such as equities and bonds.

Sixteen tokens have been interpreted.

It was reported that, in March 2026, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Exchange Commission jointly classified 16 major tokens as “digital commodities”, including bitcoin, Ether, XRP and Solana. For the market, this statement at one point eased the long-term grey zone of some assets.

  • Assets already named include BTC, ETH, XRP, SOL
  • Existing findings are based on regulatory interpretation, not legal provisions
  • It is proposed that the classification criteria and the division of supervision be fixed.

However, this finding remains a regulatory interpretation and is not a written law. In other words, the current calibre may still be adjusted if the regulatory direction changes in the future. The purpose of the CLARITY Act is to improve its stability by including this classification in federal law.

The bill will affect the above currency, ETF and institutional involvement.

It is argued that the most direct changes will occur at the product and market access levels once the DITC is legally recognized. If tokens are identified as commodities, their issuance, trading and holding will normally no longer be subject to more stringent registration and continuous disclosure requirements under securities regulation, and the currency resistance on the trading platform will decline.

This also means that the path to the development of financial products around the relevant assets will be clearer, especially those traded on exchanges such as ETF. Compliance holding, hosting arrangements and internal control judgement will also be easier to advance for institutional investors.

The token changes the classification as the network matures

Another design of the CLARITY Act is to set a "maturity test" for tokens. According to the article, some tokens may be closer to securities at an early stage, but as the network becomes decentralised and functionally improved, they can be transferred to the digital commodity category in the future.

This means that the United States proposes to adopt a dynamic classification rather than a one-time characterization at the time the token is born. For the industry, this arrangement attempts to respond to a long-standing controversy: many projects are team-driven during the start-up phase, but when the network matures, the source of value may no longer rely primarily on a single subject.

Overall, the bill seeks to resolve one of the core dividing lines in United States encryption regulation. Whether a token is a securities or a commodity is not only a legal concept dispute, but also determines who regulates, what products markets can develop, and whether institutional funds can enter on a larger scale.